Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April Canada extends COVID-19 measures for travellers from China to early April
Global News
Since Jan. 5, air travellers from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macau have been required to present a negative COVID-19 test before entering Canada.
Canada is extending its COVID-19 testing requirements for travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau for another two months, the federal government announced Thursday, pointing to a continued spike in infections and limited data sharing.
Since Jan. 5, air travellers arriving in Canada on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macau that are two years of age and older have been required to present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding the aircraft to Canada.
Those rules, which were set to expire on Saturday, will now be extended until April 5, according to a statement provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“Despite the data provided by China thus far, on-going gaps in data availability remain a significant concern,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in the statement.
“Extending these temporary health measures will provide time for new, reliable data sources to be made available and allow time for expected domestic waves in China to subside.”
China has been grappling with a surge in COVID-19 cases since lifting its “zero-COVID” public health measures late last year, allowing residents to travel both within and outside the country for the first time in nearly three years.
The move led to tens of thousands of new cases per day, according to unofficial counts, the most severe of which overwhelmed Chinese hospitals. Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at China’s Center for Disease Control (CCDC), estimated last month about 80 per cent of the country’s 1.4 billion people have been infected during the recent wave.
Since December, the CCDC has reported more than 75,000 deaths related to COVID-19 in hospital. But those data reports do not include deaths at home and only counts fatalities caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure — a narrow definition that excludes many deaths that would be attributed to COVID-19 in much of the world.